photo credit: Marc Albert/KRCB
A weekly candle-light peace vigil in Sebastopol 2/21/24

At its latest meeting, Sebastopol's city council tabled a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. Commentary happened anyway, while the symbolic measure wasn't approved, it has kept the on-going war front and center in the minds of many.

After hearing from nearly a dozen members of the public, Sebastopol Mayor Diana Rich suggested concerns of uncivil behavior that led to the item being stricken, may have been overblown.

"This experience has given me a real renewed understanding and appreciation for the ability of human beings in our town to share their thoughts and their hearts, to speak their truth in a genuine and unrestrained way," Rich said.

Earlier, Elena Lev, who described herself as a proud Jewish woman, rejected concerns the resolution would cause anti-Jewish reprisals.

"Long term peace cannot be successfully negotiated while bombs are dropping from either side. There has been a lot of fear around potential for a cease-fire resolution, particularly from Jewish residents and constituents. And I understand this and I feel empathy for those feeling fear. But this resolution, in its current form does not endanger or promote violence against anybody, internationally, or locally," Lev said.

About 24 hours later, a dozen people gathered for a weekly silent vigil at Sebastopol's Peace Wall.

One participant, Sammy Nasr, said joining with others provides some solace.

"I'm originally Palestinian, I was born there so, this whole thing does concern me. It's scary and it's horrible what's going on. I'm not sure what this does to change that but it was like, to do something," Nasr said.

Nasr maintained that a resolution makes a statement, at the very least.

"I'm in favor of it, I mean so many places have done that, countries have done that, the United Nations has done that and it was just vetoed by the US, so, I don't know if really, the Israeli government is listening, I think the Israeli government is run by psychopaths at the moment," Nasr said.

The council is set to meet again Tuesday, but the topic, to be discussed behind closed doors, involves a lawsuit against the city by Sonoma County Acts of Kindness.